Priest accused of abuse cover-up dies

The first Australian priest to be charged with covering up clerical sex abuse will never face prosecution after dying in hospital.

Hunter Valley priest Father Tom Brennan had been gravelly ill for some time, suffering from cancer.

Last week the 74-year-old was too ill to attend Newcastle Local Court for his first appearance after becoming the first person in Australia to be charged with failing to report sexual abuse by another priest.

The charges stemmed from his time as a principal at a Newcastle Catholic high school.

Police said he concealed child sex offences by a defrocked priest in the 1970s.

Brennan was also charged with assaulting an eight or nine-year-old boy.

But the matter will not proceed through the courts after Brennan died last night.